“Rather than having some obscure phone line that no one will remember, we want people to call 911 immediately if they see a pothole that will cause damage to vehicles,” Hackel said Wednesday.

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In Oakland County, residents or motorists have to call the Road Commission for Oakland County, an independent agency not under the county executive’s jurisdiction, said Road Commission Spokesman Craig Bryson.

“If it’s causing accidents, we’ll get there pronto — but if it’s a regular-sized pothole and we have salting or plowing to do ... if there’s a snowstorm ... we’ll get to it as quickly as we can,” said Bryson. “We take potholes very seriously. But if it’s not an emergency, we wont rush out to fix a pothole that’s run-of-the-mill.”

Hackel said the county Department of Roads will send a crew out to address the situation 24 hours a day. The responding crew will decide whether a patch can be applied or if other personnel need to be called in, he said.

“Overtime is not an issue, our No. 1 concern here is public safety,” he said. “We are going to get the job done.”

When a driver calls 911 about a vehicle-damaging pothole, a dispatcher will ask for the location and then contact the Macomb County Department of Roads. Road crews will assess the situation within an hour and address the situation.

Later Friday, though, state police Lt. Michael A. Shaw said that the public not be directed to “tie up 911 lines” with pothole calls. He said in a statement that pothole problems should be directed to a state hotline, state website or the appropriate local road agency.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said that when callers report a pothole or road problem to the county’s 9-1-1 call center, dispatchers give the number to the Road Commission offices.

“It truly depends on organizational structure,” said Bouchard. “For Macomb, it may make total sense for them — they handle those calls in the same center as emergency calls. For us, however, our call system is diced out by community.

“Now because technology can pin-point locations better, we route emergency calls directly to the police agency that’s going be responding. ... But it (has) nothing to do with road repair.”

Command Desk Sgt. Scott Howden said dispatchers had been monitoring emergency lines to track if the release out of Macomb becomes an issue or ties up phone lines. There haven’t been any reports tied to Macomb’s announcement to its residents, he said.

“Typically, we’ll get calls from the freeways, like if there’s a ladder on the road or something that’s causing accidents,” Howden said.

As for those types of calls, he said, “We have the manpower to cover it, but it’s just not a proper use of 9-1-1,” adding that dispatchers encourage using the non-emergency lines of the Michigan Department of Transportation or the Road Commission for Oakland County to report potholes.

In Macomb County, the sheriff said dispatchers have no problem handling the calls.

“It’s no different than someone calling to say there’s a broken-down car or obstacle in the road. It’s a quick call, we’ll take the information and say ‘Thank you’ to the caller,” Wickersham said.

The county executive said he wanted to start the 911-pothole campaign now because the number of car-jolting craters will increase once the weather warms up. But he also wants the public to focus on long-term solutions such as funding and changing gross vehicle weight limits for trucks.

Hackel blasted state lawmakers who sponsor contests for finding the worst potholes, which he feels trivializes the issue.

“Shame on them for coming up with cornball ideas instead of answers -- they should be chastised for not doing their jobs,” he said.

Hackel singled out state Rep. Marilyn Lane for having the “political courage” to explore funding solutions.

Lane, a Fraser Democrat who serves as vice chair of the state House transportation committee, said cities and counties need more funding -- now -- just to maintain roads, let alone repair or replace them.

She agreed with Hackel that the pothole issue will only get worse as the spring thaw sets in during the next few months.

“We’re going to have unprecedented problem this spring because the locals and counties are already short on their budgets due to the record-setting snowfall we’ve had,” Lane said.

“These potholes are going to wreak havoc on our cars. And the only place they can turn to for relief is the state.”

Oakland Press staff writer John Turk and The Associated Press contributed to this story.